S&S 100 Films HTF Forum Challenge (1 Viewer)

[JungWoo]

Just to confuse people , I thought I'd start this S&S 100 Movies HTF Forum Challenge just now. But seriously, many of these are really, really great movies!
I think the following movies are generally easier to find than you might imagine although for some movies (well, for many movies) you might have to travel to specialty video shop in downtown or to public library. I think the titles will be easier to find than movies on BFI list, which is why I decided to post this after all. So the challenge begins.
Those movies already released on DVD are listed in red color, announced titles in purple , titles that are rumored to be planned blue , and the rest are in black colors.
Title (Director) - Distributer (VHS)
1. Citizen Kane (Welles) - Warner is in the restoration process.
2. The Rules of the Game (Renoir) - Criterion is expected to release it in 2001.
3. Tokyo Story (Ozu) - gathering dusts in New Yorker vault
4. Vertigo (Hitchcock) - gloriously restored on Universal DVD
5. The Searchers (Ford) - Warner DVD. Well, they could have done it better.
6. L'Atalante (Vigo) - New Yorker is sitting on this, too! The nerve!
6. Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein) - Image DVD. But restored one will be coming from Criterion, maybe 2001.
6. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer) - fabulous disc from Crterion.
6. Pather Panchali (or any other Apu Trilogy title) (Ray) - waiting for rescue from Columbia vault.
10. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick) - Warner DVD. There will be new release for year 2001.
11. 8 1/2 (Fellini) - Criterion DVD will come in 2001.
11. Sunrise (Murnau) - Fox (Critics' Choice Video)
13. L'Avventura (Antonioni) - Criterion, 2000 or 2001? It even got a spine number of #98, so I'm giving it a purple mark.
13. The Bicycle Thief (De Sica) - Image DVD with not so great transfer.
13. The General (Keaton) - Image/Kino DVD - basically tranfer of splendid VHS to DVD.
13. Seven Samurai (Kurosawa) - Criterion says it all.
13. Singin' in the Rain (Kelley/Donen) - Warner DVD.
18. City Lights (Chaplin) - Image DVD. great quality.
19. Breathless (Godard) - Fox Lorber? (Connoisseur)
19. Letter from Unknown Woman (Ophuls) - Artisan?
19. Pierrot le fou (Godard) - Fox Lorber - OK transfer, though it could be better.
19. Raging Bull (Scorsese) - MGM DVD. looks good.
19. Ugetsu Monogatari (Mizoguchi) - Janus film collection, which means Criterion could give it Criterion treatment. (Home Vision)
19. Wild Strawberries (Bergman) - Criterion is apparently planning to release this gem.
25. Intolerance (Griffith) - Image DVD.
25. Paisan (Rossellini) - ? (Hen's Tooth, not a very welcome name for videophile).
27. Andrei Rublev (Tarkovsky) - Criterion DVD rules!
27. The Music Room (Ray) - Columbia, wake up please!
27. Rear Window (Hitchcock) - being shown in theater after restoration. Universal DVD will follow up shortly next year.
27. Some Like It Hot (Wilder) - According to the DVDFile, this is in production by MGM. Great! Thanks, alan for sharing this info.
31. Gertrud (Dreyer) - Criterion
31. The Children of Paradise (Carne) - Criterion is supposed to be working on it.
31. Journey to Italy (Rossellini) - ? (Connoisseur)
31. Madame de... (Ophuls) - ? (Connoisseur)
31. Contempt (Godard) - Criterion? This movie was restored and theatrically released about three years ago. How hard can it be to just put it on DVD?
31. Mirror (Tarkovsky) - Kino DVD.
31. Pickpocket (Bresson) - New Yorker
31. Stalker (Tarkovsky) - Fox Lorber
31. Touch of Evil (Welles) - coming to DVD on 10/31/00 by universal.
40. Ordet (Dreyer) - Criterion, please do it.
41. Black Narcissus (Powell) - Although it has official release date of 10/31/00, it has been announced and delayed, and so on. Still I give it purple color. Grand Illusion did come out after all. Spine number #93.
41. Charulata (Ray) - Columbia, give us at least one Ray.
41. Decalogue (Kieslowski) - kudos to Image DVD.
41. La Dolce Vita (Fellini) - Artisan? (Republic)
41. Fanny and Alexander (Bergman) - Has MGM released any foreign movie?
41. The Grand Illlusion (Renoir) - Criterion DVD. Gloriously resgored, it was worth 2 years of wait.
41. Greed (von Stroheim) - Warner/Turner. Greed was recently restored. Why is it not on DVD yet?!
41. Ikiru (Kurosawa) - another Janus film, Criterion candidate.
41. Jules et Jim (Truffaut) - one of better transfers form Fox Lorber.
41. M (Lang) - Criterion DVD.
41. The Man with a Movie Camera (Vertov) - Image DVD with very nice transfer considering its age.
41. Monsieur Verdoux (Chaplin) - Image DVD.
41. My Darling Clementine (Ford) - Fox, Come on.
41. Nashville (Altman) - Paramount DVD. Excellent as expected, only if they'll get more titles out.
41. North by Northwest (Hitchcock) - Warner DVD with truly remarkable restoration.
41. Shoah (Lanzmann) - New Yorker
41. The Third Man (Reed) - Criterion DVD with great transfer as usual.
41. Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch) - ? Gee, there is not even VHS for this movie. Com'on, this is a Lubitsch movie for God's sake.
41. Two or Three Things I Know About Her (Godard) - New Yorker is the culprit. VHS of this has been at rental price ($90), I don't know, for five years now, isn't it?
61. Germany, Year Zero (Rossellini) - ? (Connoisseur, UK)
61. The Gold Rush (Chaplin) - Image DVD, good transfer but not the original silent version (It's version in which Chaplin reads intertitle). But be even more wary of $10 Gold Rush DVD's released by noname company for it is in public domain.
63. L'Age d'Or (Bunuel) - ?
63. Apocalypse Now (Coppola) - Paramount DVD
63. Au Hasard Balthazar (Bresson) - ? (Nouveau Film in UK)
63. The Birth of a Nation (Griffith) - Image DVD
63. Bringing Up Baby (Hawks) - Warner (Turner)
63. Un Chien Andalou (Bunuel) - ? (Video Yesteryear)
63. Chimes at Midnight (Welles) - Disney? Jarod reports that there's rumor, it is being restored by Disney. If true, good possibility that it will follow on DVD.
63. The Godfather, Part 2 (Coppola) - According to Paramount, they are closely working with Coppola on developing a strategy for the Godfather trilogy.
63. Ivan the Terrible (Eisenstein) - Criterion is releasing this two-parts movie together with Alexander Nevsky in the box set on 11/14/00. You can buy already-released Image DVD's separately for both movies, but they are reportedly atrocious. Better wait for the restored Criterion set.
63. Kings of the Road (Wenders) - ? (Connoisseur, UK)
63. Listen to Britain (Jennings) - ? (Classic Pictures, UK)
63. The Magnificent Ambersons (Welles) - Warner (Turner)
63. Modern Times (Chaplin) - Image DVD. excellent transfer.
63. Night of the Hunter (Laughton) - MGM DVD
63. Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone) - According to Paramount, it is coming "sooner than later". Whatever that means.
63. Out of the Past (Tourneur) - Warner (Turner)
63. Passion (Godard) - Fox Lorber
63. Performance (Cammell) - Warner
63. Sansho Dayu (Mizoguchi) - Criterion (Janus)
63. The Scarlet Empress (von Sternberg) - Universal
63. Stagecoach (Ford) - Warner DVD
63. To Be or Not to Be (Lubitsch) - Warner? MGM? Didn't they exchange their catalog? In any case, it used to be Warner video. (Warner)
63. The Travelling Players (Angelopoulos) - New Yorker
63. My Life to Live (Godard) - Fox Lorber DVD with OK transfer.
63. Week-end (Godard) - New Yorker
63. Yellow Earth (Kaige) - Fox Lorber
89. Distant Voices, Still Lives (Davies) - ? (Vision Video, UK)
90. October (Eisenstein) - Image DVD. Transfer not satisfactory at all. But as mentioned above, Criterion will release all (or almost all) of Eisenstein's movies on DVD, and it will be worth the wait.
91. Accatone (Pasolini) - Criterion
91. L'Argent (Bresson) - New Yorker
91. An Autumn Afternoon (Ozu) - New Yorker (I'll keep my calm.)
91. Belle de jour (Bunuel) - Disney.
91. Boudu Saved from Drowning (Renoir) - ? (Interama)
91. Brief Encounter (Lean) - Criteiron
91. The Conformist (Bertolucci) - Paramount
91. The Crowd (Vidor) - Warner/MGM (MGM)
91. Dead Ringers (Cronenberg) - Criterion DVD.
91. L'Eclisse (Antonioni) - ? (Connoissuer)
91. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Hawks) - Warner/MGM (MGM)
91. His Girl Friday (Hawks) - coming to DVD on 11/21/00 by Columbia! Restored! At last! Don't even think about those $10 ones in the market.
91. Imitation of Life (Sirk) - Universal
91. In the Realm of the Senses (Oshima) - Fox Lorber
91. Jeanne Dielman (Akerman) - ?
91. The Leopard (Visconti) - Fox (the Fox, not Fox Lorber)
91. Life of Oharu (Mizoguchi) - Criterion
91. Limelight (Chaplin) - Image DVD.
91. Meet Me in St. Louis (Minnelli) - Warner/MGM (MGM)
91. Meshes of Afternoon (Deren) - ?
91. Metropolis (Lang) - Actually, there is shiny round thingy released by Madacy, but I'm not going to call it DVD. This movie is in public domain, but it will be nice to know who owns the rights to Moroder version. (Paramount was apparently the original distributer, but I don't know if they are involved with the movie in any way any more.)
91. La Notte (Antonioni) - ? (Connoisseur)
91. A Day in the Country (Renoir) - ? (Interama)
91. Peeping Tom (Powell) - Criterion DVD
91. Persona (Bergman) - MGM
91. The Player (Altman) - Warner/New Line DVD
91. Playtime (Tati) - Criterion (Home Vision)
91. Rashomon (Kurosawa) - Criterion
91. The Seventh Seal (Bergman) - Criterion DVD
91. La Signora di Tutti (Ophuls) - ? (Connoisseur)
91. Spring in a Small Town (Mu) - ?
91. Sunset Boulevard (Wilder) - According to Paramount. it is in the works.
91. La Terra Trema (Visconti) - ? (Connoisseur, UK)
91. Why did Bodhi-Dharma Leave for the East? (Bae) - Image DVD
91. The Wind (Sjostrom) - MGM (MGM/UA)
127. Aparajito (Ray) - Columbia
127. Late Spring (Ozu) - New Yorker
127. Hiroshima, mon amour (Resnais) - Criterion
127. Strike (Eisenstein) - Image DVD. Criterion one will be coming.
127. The World of Apu (Ray) - Columbia
(37 red (available on DVD), 5 purple (announced), and 11 blue (rumored to be planed), 78 black (gathering dusts) ones.
By the end of next year, I'd imagine more than 50 of these would be available on DVD. Hopefully, by the deadline, much more red titles on this list.)

There are 131 films, but Decalogue counts as two , (an extra credit for those who sit through 10 hrs). So we have 132 points possible.
Our goal would be to reach 100 by Dec. 31st, 2002. (It will be probably impossible for most people to see all 131 due to availability issue.)
Starting at zero and supposing that one watches a movie a week, it would take approximately two years. Since there's Edwin's AFI Challenge, so this deadline will give some months to finish off the AFI list before starting. Those who are not participating could get the headstart by starting now. BTW, our deadline will probably coincide with the S&S's publication of new 2002 poll if they follow the tradition (they do this every decade). But don't worry, these lists tend to remain same for most part.
(# left to reach 100)
Jung - 30 25
Ike - 87 82
Stephen R - 93 59
Evan Case - 56 45
Darren H - 70 64
Jarod M - 43
alan halvorson - 76
Steve Enemark - 72 69
Gary Tooze - 63 59
Donald B - honorary participant
Pascal A - honorary participant
Brook K - 71 52
Tim Raffey - 82 81
Scott Harris - 94
Doug D - 49 38
Jeff Adkins - 72
...
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My Life to Live
"Cinema is truth 24 frames per second." - Godard
My DVD Collection
Cinema: seventh art

 

[Ike]

Your on Jung! I've seen a handful of those. I joined AFI Challenge, but I never got into it. So, do we have a deadline?

 

[Ike]

I've seen 13. So, I've only got (sinking feeling setting in) 87 to go. Unlike the AFI list, these are actually movies I wanted to pursue out myself. I copied the list, and made my own notes. Maybe after I get done, I will be a Film Elitist Bastard. Right now, I'm just a bastard.
Can you possibly post, give a link, Private Mail me (using the board's system), or email the whole list?

 

[Evan Case]

Well, I've seen 44 of these titles so it'd take quite a bit more time to finish this list than Edwin's AFI challenge.
I'm astonished at this list. While there are some fantastic films listed (I'm very pleased that Tokyo Story placed #3 on the list. It's one of the most beautifully acted pieces I've ever seen), there are many notable omissions. Forgive me, but where the hell is Lawrence of Arabia?! Including relatively slight films like Limelight or The Player in place of Lawrence (not to mention Godfather 1...) leads me to question the entire list. Sure, the voters may be the most knowledgeable film folks in the world but if they can't see the obvious greatness of LOA or The Godfather, I don't know what to say.
Even so, thanks for the idea Jung. I live in a college town with a specialty video store (as you described). Unfortunately, my VCR is broken at present. Definitely a hindrance when half the movies are only on VHS.
Evan
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"I don't make monkeys, I just train them!"
AFI List: 3 to go (and it'd be 1 if my crappy VCR worked)

 

[Jarod M]

For those that want to see the complete S+S list (among other lists posted by Jung)- http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/Forum25/HTML/000369.html If you're a poor college student then I guess that's an acceptable excuse. Also, you seem to be taking a very English-centric (movies that have been hyped endlessly in this country and England) view of the greatest films. There are people out there (including myself) who might really like Lawrence, but wouldn't have it anywhere close their top 100 of all time. The same goes for The Godfather. You are using the term "slight" for The Player and Limelight, but in artistic terms that does not seem appropriate.
-Jarod

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Jung, this was going to be the next challenge. You were just one step ahead of me. By the time I'm done with the AFI Challenge, I would have seen about 23 movies on your list. Unfortunately, I can't commit right now. After I'm done with the AFI Challenge, I might take a break. During our discussions, some people have brought up movies that are not on either list. I'd probably want to see those first. Good luck and, of course, have fun!
~Edwin
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http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/Forum9/HTML/003933.html

 

[Stephen R]

Count me in....even though I've only seen *cringe*...seven. Hey, stop laughing. I'm only 19...hehe.
Many of these titles are ones I've been wanting to see. I've only recently begun watching films as if it's a religion, so many of these are ones I need to see in order to understand my faith
A long road ahead though...

 

[Evan Case]

Jarod,
Regarding the VCR, I'd at least like to get a 4-head VCR (if I'm going to subject myself to low-quality images, it mind as well be of a "good" low-quality). As I just got hammered by textbook prices (almost $400), I don't currently have $75 to burn on a VCR. If I really, really need to see something, I can go to the University Library and use their VCR.
Regarding Limelight and The Player, you'll notice I used the term "relatively slight" not "slight." They are both good movies (though the over-indulgent, melodramatic Limelight can't hope to compare with Chaplin's true classics). I stand by my view that Lawrence and Godfather are superior to the two I mentioned in just about every manner, both in form and content.
Regarding my "English-centric" views, I point you to my praise of Tokyo Story as well as the fact that both Limelight and The Player are English language films.
Regards,
Evan
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"I don't make monkeys, I just train them!"
AFI List: 3 to go (and it'd be 1 if my crappy VCR worked)

 

[JungWoo]

Jarod, your suggestion make more sense than the hairbrained scheme of mine - what I was thinking when I axed Sunrise? Thank you for informing me that Fox owns rights to Sunrise.
Anyway, I edited my post so that now the goal is to see 100 (or 99) out of 131 movies. That's really nice since it gives some choices.
Evan, I agree with you with the problem of S&S list. First of all, with these critics or academics, it takes more than 10 years to appreciate the merit of the movie as evidenced in the general absense of movies of 80's and 90's films.
Secondly, my suspicion is that these critics do not really vote for 10 best movies that they think are made, but 10 directors from which they choose what they think is the best of work of each director.
And from your post, I was not sure whether you are in or not. I took the liberty of putting your name as a participant.
Come on, this is going to be fun.
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My Life to Live
"Cinema is truth 24 frames per second." - Godard
My DVD Collection
Cinema: seventh art

 

[Evan Case]

Jung,
I'm in.
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"I don't make monkeys, I just train them!"
AFI List: 3 to go (and it'd be 1 if my crappy VCR worked)

 

[Darren H]

JungWoo,
This is the challenge I've been waiting for. Sad to say that I've only seen 30 on the list (all the way through and in recent memory). Count me in.
Darren
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"Peace is our profession."

 

[Jarod M]

Jung,
Count me in. I need to see 43 more to reach 100. I keep reading rumors that Chimes at Midnight, the one theatrical Welles film I have not seen, is being restored, possibly by Miramax!?
Evan,
Ok, you got me there. I like to think I'm film literate, but I've never even heard of Tokyo Story. But Ozu has recently come to my attention as a director whose films I need to explore.
-Jarod

 

[alan halvorson]

I've seen an 24 of the above - and I thought I was a film buff! Not buff, I guess.
A couple notes: Dvd File has mentioned that Some Like It Hot is scheduled for next year. And there is another version of Metropolis on dvd, in R2 - a much longer version but without the Moroder soundtrack. If you go to Dvd Resourse and pick the DVD Savant (Glen Erickson) section, you can find out something about this (I hope I remember this correctly - maybe it's somewher else).
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You Can't Roller Skate In a Buffalo Herd - Roger Miller

 

[DonaldB]

I've already seen over a hundred of them. What do I win?

 

[JungWoo]

Donald B, you are disqualified.
Well, you could try to see all 131 if you can. Now don't tell me that you saw all of them!
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My Life to Live
"Cinema is truth 24 frames per second." - Godard
My DVD Collection
Cinema: seventh art

 

[Steve Enemark]

I've seen 28, but I kind of doubt that number will get very close to 100 in two years. So many classic films gathering dust in so many vaults, with no DVDs in sight.

 

[Gary Tooze]

I'm in Jung,
Seen 37... and counting...
I have 4 on the list ( DVD s ) that i haven't even seen yet... this will give me a reason to stop procrastinating...
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[email protected]
"A film is a petrified fountain of thought." - Jean Cocteau
My DVD collection
My Laser Disk collection
My Humble DVD Website

 

[Brian E]

Next thing you know we'll be doing one for the IMDB top 250.
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-Brian
AFI Movies Left To Watch 53 52 51 50 49
filmbunker.com
My DVD List

 

[Chris Lock]

What is S&S? The Green Stamps people?

 

[Pascal A]

I'm with Donald B on having seen every film on the list. The cooler part is, I also own all but 4 on home video.
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Strictly Film School